


it's all my fault that I'm still the one you want

by ncas



Series: I'm a sinner, I'm a saint [2]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - No Exy (All For The Game), Andrew Minyard Has Feelings, Andrew Minyard Loves Neil Josten, But it takes place now, I know if we follow the book timeline this supposed to happen in around 2012, I know nothing of the us judicial system, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character, POV Andrew Minyard, POV Neil Josten, Soft Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, The only thing true about NHL is the teams' names, This is not a hockey fic I swear, hockey coach!Neil Josten, hockey player Kevin Day, it is very possible that this is ooc, lawyer!Andrew Minyard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:48:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27194008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ncas/pseuds/ncas
Summary: Neil Josten and Andrew Minyard were brought together by a snowstorm but how will their relationship weather the challenges of their everyday life?
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: I'm a sinner, I'm a saint [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984120
Comments: 40
Kudos: 89





	1. "Andrew Minyard doesn’t get infatuated"

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I recently hit 200 kudos on the first part of this fic for which I am insanely grateful. I started writing this sequel part as thanks for everyone and part because I wanted to anyways.
> 
> I wanna say a HUGE thank you to [Rae_writes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rae_writes/pseuds/Rae_writes) for giving me the best ideas ever and for beta-ing this mess of a chapter. You guys should definitely check their page out because everything they write is amazing.
> 
> Also, I have no provisional posting schedule, but I will try to write as fast as I can.

Andrew dropped his bags in the hallway as he stepped through the door of his apartment and let King out of her bag. He chuckled to himself a little at the pun before moving onto filling her bowls with food and water. King stopped her insistent meowing and began to devour everything she found in her bowl. Andrew knew he should unpack his bags, but he couldn’t find the strength in himself for that after the four days he’d had, so he crawled into the living room and threw himself onto the sofa. King wandered in not two minutes later, sniffing around her new environment. Andrew watched as she noticed one of the balls he’d bought earlier and started stalking it. She pressed herself to the ground, wiggled her butt then jumped on her prey which as a result went flying, King sprinting after it. Andrew laughed, already feeling the toll of the road-trip a little less.

Bee – his therapist – had advised Andrew to adopt a cat. She said that having to take care of another living being would help him take care of himself. If a cat is hungry, it won’t stop bothering its owner until it gets fed, so Andrew would have a reason to get out of bed each morning. And if he’s already in the kitchen, he might as well feed himself, too. However, cats are pretty self-sufficient creatures – unlike dogs – so on a bad day Andrew probably wouldn’t have to do anything else besides putting food in the bowl. Andrew understood cats, their apprehension against strangers and their need not to be bothered unless they wanted to be. They use claws sharp as knives to fend off anyone who comes too close for comfort. But they can be incredibly loyal once they decided you earned that loyalty. Just like Andrew. So Andrew wasn’t against the idea of getting a cat, and when an opportunity presented itself – namely when the family’s cat for which Andrew had won a case not long ago had had kittens and they offered Andrew one as gratitude - he didn’t say no. The name came with the kitten, she and all her siblings had been named by Bryan, Andrew’s defendant. And Andrew wouldn’t change it for the world.

Now that he was home with his new feline roommate, watching her running off with a mouse before dropping it and sprinting after a ball, then abandoning it to race up the cat tower, sprinting around it and jumping off, Andrew thought he might be regretting this decision of his. That cat had more energy than she should have, based on the size of her body. Andrew wondered if it was a result of being locked up for almost four days in a bag, or if she would always be like this. He hoped it would be the former. But still, watching the little tornado race around the flat, he felt weirdly content. It is difficult to sink deep into one’s own spiraling thoughts when every few minutes a furry bullet would gallop through one’s stomach where one was lying on the couch. Andrew took care to protect his nicely healing, but still very sore and sensitive, bullet wound from the oncoming attacks, and let King roam around the flat freely. The cat started to calm down, chewing on a toy, all that pent-up energy leaving her body. So, Andrew let himself relax and think about the craziest four days of his life that he had just lived through. He really had not expected to meet a person like Neil Josten at the airport when he left the courthouse. And he sure as fuck had not expected to become infatuated with him while driving in a car together from Denver all the way to Columbia. Andrew Minyard doesn’t get infatuated. He finds men he thinks are attractive, has fun with them upon consent for a night, then leaves in the morning. Then Neil came along. With his striking blue eyes, contrasting auburn hair, and with that infuriating mouth of his that just doesn’t stop moving and continues to drive Andrew crazy, if not with words then with those maddening kisses. Andrew didn’t know how he should go on. For whatever reason, he did like Neil, even after being locked up with him in a car for four days, and he was pretty sure Neil liked him as well, if his behavior in the car rental parking lot was anything to go by. But this was a foreign field, and Andrew didn’t like the unknown. He liked being in control in all parts of his life, love life especially. But he did know that he wanted to see Neil again, even if this thought scared him.

He found himself wondering if Neil managed to arrive home safely with Sir; if his stuff arrived safely and on time, or if there was a hold up with the movers, as it most often was the case; if Sir behaved like a sane cat or if she was being a menace as well. Before he knew it, Andrew had his phone in his hand and Neil’s Instagram profile opened on it. He scrolled through the few pictures Neil had posted, most of them of Sir or hockey related stuff. Andrew still hadn’t told Neil how he had played hockey in high school and according to his coaches and one Kevin Day, he could have made NHL if only he entered the draft. Him not wanting to spend his life standing in front of the goal on ice while his teammates chased around the puck, had been the source of countless arguments between him and Kevin. Kevin who had gone first that year and now was the captain of the Philadelphia Flyers, and who was still holding a grudge against Andrew for not choosing that path. But they were still friends and they made sure to meet up as much as they could, when Kevin’s team was playing in the vicinity. Andrew didn’t know how Neil would react if he ever found out Andrew was high school best friends with an NHL captain. He felt this was a piece of information that should be shared with Neil early in their relationship, of whatever nature that relationship might be, given the other’s fanaticism towards the sport. Andrew didn’t need his eidetic memory to remember the look on Neil’s face in the car after the game. The earnest gratitude and joy with a hint of something that Andrew could have sworn was adoration as he thanked Andrew for the evening they spent in the arena. On the other hand, he did not want to talk about hockey more than he had to, listening to Kevin was more than enough, and if Neil found out Andrew was well-informed on the world of hockey, he probably would talk Andrew’s ear off about it, given the other’s fanaticism towards the sport. However, before he had the chance to come to a decision about when, if at all, sharing this information about himself with Neil, his thoughts were interrupted by a direct message alert:

@njosten10: _“YOU KNOW KEVIN FUCKING DAY??!!”_

Above it, Neil had sent him one of the very few pictures Andrew had posted of himself. It was a photo of him and Kevin that was taken back in high school. When Kevin had been announced as captain, Andrew felt oddly proud and decided to congratulate him as people always do on social media: with an old, preferably embarrassing photo of the two of them. With the decision taken out of his hands about when to tell Neil, Andrew replied to the message the only way he knew. With sarcasm.

@aminyard: _no, I’m just really good at photoshop_

The response came not even a full second later.

@njosten10: _ha. ha. ha_.

@njosten10: _very funny_

@njosten10: _why didn’t you tell me??_

@aminyard: _because I didn’t want to talk about Kevin. I still don’t_

@njosten10: _but you just CANNOT keep information like this from me Andrew!!_

@aminyard: _that post is more than 5 years old. I don’t know if I should be honored or creeped out by you stalking my account_

@njosten10: _please, its like the tenth picture on your profile, I didnt scroll that far back_

@njosten10: _also, its either looking through your profile or emptying the dozens of boxes lying all around my apartment rn and one of those is more enjoyable than the other_

@njosten10: _anyways, hows king?_

Andrew sent Neil a video of King dashing through the living room, apparently a 20-minute nap had been enough for her, with the message ‘ _enjoying not being locked up_ ’. From then on, their conversation turned towards the topic of the cats, how they were enjoying their new homes, how Sir acted like a normal adult cat, and was sleeping peacefully in one of the few already emptied out cardboard boxes after sniffing around her new environment. Andrew asked Neil about his flat and about when he would start coaching – the window frames were kind of falling apart, his first practice session would be on Tuesday – and in turn, Neil dutifully did not ask Andrew about Kevin or anything hockey-related. They talked about anything and everything, how Neil could already hear his neighbors through the walls, so they must be quite thin, and how Andrew was very often woken up by footsteps coming from the apartment above his. They asked each other about their plans for the upcoming weekend, and Andrew felt it was now his turn to take the next step, Neil had been the one who texted him first after all.

@aminyard: _King is still acting crazy_

@aminyard: _is it normal if she’s literally on the ceiling or should I call an exorcist?_

@aminyard: _is it possible she misses Sir and that’s why she can’t settle down?_

@njosten10: _that is perfectly possible. They did spend quite a long time together in the past few days.._

@njosten10: _we could come over and see if that helps?_

It wasn’t Andrew taking the next step after all, even if he had wanted to propose the same thing. Nevertheless, he agreed and that’s how not 20 minutes later he opened his front door to a tired but happy looking Neil, with Sir in her carrier. It had only been a few hours since Andrew last saw Neil, but his features still struck him as when he first found himself face-to-face with the man at the airport, words dying on his tongue as he took in the other’s face.

“Are we going to stand in your doorway, or are you gonna let me and my crying daughter in?” asked Neil, after a few seconds of standing silently, apart from Sir, who was insistently meowing at King in Andrew’s arms at that moment. Andrew came back to himself and stepped out of the way.

“Hi, yes, come in,” he answered then led Neil into the living room once the man took his shoes and coat off.

Neil opened the door of Sir’s carrier the same time as Andrew put King down and the two cats immediately started playing. Or more like King was trying to play with Sir who just lay there, submitting herself to the incessant attacks of King.

“I don’t think this whole calming down thing works,” said Neil, looking at the cats.

“Before you arrived, I was the one constantly attacked by King, so I call this a definite improvement,” replied Andrew as he made his way towards the sofa and sat down.

Neil followed him, sitting down next to Andrew but making sure to leave a good few inches of distance between them. Although Andrew appreciated Neil not assuming he was allowed to touch, just because of the nights they had spent together, he found himself wanting to close that few inches. He didn’t though. He just stayed where he was sitting in the corner of the sofa, with his back against the armrest, one foot on the floor, the other pulled up to his chest, watching Neil watching the cats on the floor.

“Staring,” said Neil suddenly with a mischievous grin on his face but not taking his eyes off of Sir and King. Andrew heard himself scoff and turned to regard the cats as well.

They sat in semi-comfortable silence for a few minutes before Neil spoke up once again.

“You know, this is a little bit weird,” he started. “We literally spent every minute together the last four days. I slept in your arms, albeit a bit fitfully.” Andrew scoffed.

“But now, sitting on your couch feels a bit weird,” continued Neil, not acknowledging Andrew’s reaction.

“Why is it weird?” asked Andrew. He hated the pit that formed in his stomach upon Neil’s words. Was he about to end whatever had been between them?

“I don’t know how to act,” admitted Neil.

“That didn’t seem to be a problem for you before.”

“Excuse me, what are you insinuating?” Neil asked with feigned indignation.

“Nothing, nothing,” Andrew answered. “Just that in the short time I had known you, you didn’t seem to care about the way you were supposed to act, you did what you wanted to do.”

“Well, yeah. But now I don’t know if I’m allowed to do what I want to do,” replied Neil, all while looking Andrew straight in the eye. Andrew felt his heart speed up under Neil’s gaze and was embarrassed by how hard it was for him to pronounce his next words.

“Why? What is it that you want to do right now?” he asked, not turning his eyes away from Neil’s.

“Kiss you, for example,” Neil answered, clearly going for nonchalant but miserably failing. Andrew swallowed and said:

“You’re allowed to do that.”

Neil’s eyes lit up as he turned towards Andrew with his whole body, kneeling up onto the sofa. Andrew sat up a little more, straightened his leg that has been resting against his chest to give Neil more room as he climbed in front of Andrew.

“Hi,” he said once they were face-to-face. “I am going to kiss you now.”

Andrew nodded. “Okay.”

Then they were kissing, Neil making sure not to touch Andrew below his shoulders and to keep a little distance between their torsos even as he deepened the kiss. Neil kissed him as if they had been reunited after being separated for months, but Andrew didn’t mind. He crossed his arms behind Neil’s neck and brought his head and whole body closer to eliminate the gap between them as he buried his hands into those maddening auburn curls. Neil straddled Andrew’s hips, one knee on each side resting on the cushion as Andrew brought his other leg up from the floor onto the sofa. But before they could go any further, continue making out on the sofa like a couple of teenagers, they were startled by King sprinting across Neil’s back, chased by Sir, who, apparently, had had enough of the kitten’s antics.

“Oh, you fucker,” cursed Neil rubbing his back with his hand, that undoubtedly had a few new, even if smaller and shallower, scars added to the heartbreaking collection on there. “And fuck you, Andrew, for laughing. Do you know how much kitten claws hurt? I swear they are sharper than adult cat ones.” Andrew put his arms up in feigned innocence but felt the corners of his mouth curling up.

“It was kind of funny,” he said.

“Okay, it was,” conceded Neil. “But it still fucking hurt.”

“I am sure of it,” Andrew smiled. “I could kiss it better if you want me to,” he said, pushing his hands under Neil’s sweatshirt over the old scars on his back.

“Fuck you, I’m not a child,” came the response from Neil, acting offended.

“Well, you sure as hell acting like one. Pouting because of a few scratches.”

“Oh yeah, big guy? Let’s see how long it’ll take you to come crying to me because of all the scratches King is undoubtedly going to leave on you. I’m saying two days. At most.”

“You can bet your pretty ass, I won’t go crying to you because of a few claw marks.”

“You think I have a pretty ass?” Neil asked, grinning and completely missing the point of Andrew’s statement. Andrew opened his mouth to say something dismissing, but his breath got caught in his throat as Neil ground that aforementioned pretty ass of his against Andrew’s groin. “Oh, you wanted to say something? I’m sorry,” Neil said and smirked as he moved his hips again.

“Shut the fuck up,” Andrew groaned, equal parts annoyed and turned on, then traced his hands over Neil’s back until he felt his shoulder blades under his palms and pulled Neil back against him, finally silencing that infuriating mouth. Neil smiled into the kiss and pulled away after a little while, much to Andrew’s dislike.

“I really don’t fancy receiving another set of claw marks, if it’s all the same to you,” he said. “What do you say we give the cats room to run and you show me other parts of your flat as well? Preferably your bedroom.”

Andrew rolled his eyes but kissed Neil once again before he pushed him off his lap and stood up, taking Neil’s hand and leading him towards his bedroom. Once inside, he closed the door and pushed Neil against it, kissing his mouth, his jaw, and behind his ears. He shuddered when Neil placed open-mouthed kisses down his neck and collarbone before he moved back up and captured Andrew’s mouth once again. Andrew then turned them around and pushed Neil on the bed, climbing after him, kissing him into the mattress.

*

After, they were lying in bed sated and content with Neil’s head on Andrews chest, when they heard a crash coming from outside the bedroom door followed by a loud scream and some hissing. Neil groaned and hid his face in Andrew’s neck.

“Was that yours or mine?” he asked.

“Well, mine is a few-week-old ball of energy and yours is an adult cat. So I’m voting for mine. So much for Sir calming her down,” Andrew replied.

“We tried. I should head back home anyways, it’s getting late and I still have un-packing to do. A lot of un-packing,” Neil said and climbed out of bed after placing another chaste kiss on Andrew’s mouth and he went about finding his discarded clothes. Andrew followed suit and by the time he got dressed, Neil was already in the living room, getting Sir ready to leave which consisted of picking her up and putting her into the carrier. King was happily rolling in the pile of dirt that without doubt got onto the floor from the broken pot that had been knocked off from the windowsill. Andrew groaned when he saw this beautiful still-life and Neil laughed.

“Have fun cleaning that up. I did forget to mention that having plotted plants in reachable distance is not a great idea when you have a cat.”

“Yeah, thanks for the late advice.”

“You’re welcome. Anytime,” Neil grinned that stupid grin of his and looking at Andrew with shining eyes.

“I told you to stop looking at me like that. Now go, unpack your stuff and let me clean this mess up,” he told Neil then added “I might accidentally throw King into the trashcan with the dirt,” looking threateningly at the little monster as if the cat could understand his words.

Neil laughed once again. It was getting frustrating.

“Sure sure. Lie all you want, but you love that little gremlin, I can tell.”

“I don’t.”

“Don’t lie to a liar, Minyard. You’re so full of shit, I’m surprised it doesn’t stink.”

Andrew looked at Neil upon his words and took in this gorgeous, fascinating man with his smart mouth and knew he was in deep.

“You’re unbelievable,” he told Neil. “Why are you still here?”

“I’m going, I’m going,” Neil smiled and pressed a kiss to Andrew’s cheek before picking up Sir, heading towards the front door and putting on his boots and coat. As he stepped outside, he smiled at Andrew once again then waved goodbye.

With a grunt, Andrew set out to clean up the ruins of the plant which he more or less managed to do with King desperately trying to help him. Meaning she was always in the way, tried to play with the dirt clumps, then ran away like lightning when Andrew turned on the vacuum-cleaner.

When Andrew went into the kitchen from the now clean living room to get himself some dinner and a glass of water, he found a small piece of paper sitting on the counter. It had a phone number and the words “ _so I don’t have to stalk your Instagram profile anymore”_ in an almost illegible scrawl on it. Andrew shook his head, but saved the number into his phone and named the contact simply ‘ _Idiot’_ and sent him a text:

_‘You could have told me your number directly, we’re not in a nineteen-fifties movie’_

**_‘But it’s more fun this way_** ** _😘’_** came the response not a minute later which absolutely did not do anything to Andrew’s insides. God, he was so fucked.

He put a frozen pizza into the oven and prepared himself a sweet cocktail. He deserved them after the days he had had. Twelve minutes later his oven started beeping, so he took the pizza out, added a pint of ice-cream to his dinner and went into the living room, refusing to think about Neil Josten any more. King was back, lying on the sofa and was apparently still in the helping mood, because she proved to be an effective distraction as she noticed the food on Andrew’s plate and Andrew had to use every trick up his sleeve to keep her from getting to it.

But that night when Andrew lay in his fresh sheets, he let his mind wander and arrive to a face with blue eyes and red hair and fell asleep with a smile on his face.


	2. "I think the heating is broken"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil has problems with his new apartment, Andrew helps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is unbeta-ed, so any mistakes are mine, for which I apologise.

When Andrew woke up the next morning, he was feeling disoriented. He was lying on the edge of the bed, facing the window and noticed that the sun was somehow shining from the wrong direction. He closed his eyes once more and turned onto his other side. Then almost fell out of the bed as something soft touched his neck before it let out a yelp and sank its claws into the delicate skin on Andrew’s jaw.

“Oh, you fucker,” he cursed while trying to will his racing heart to slow back down to its resting pace. Neil had been right, kitten claws were sharp. It fucking hurt. Andrew went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and assess his newly obtained injury. When he looked into the mirror, he saw four inflamed lines on the side of his face that started to slowly leak blood. Great, he just had to make sure to not see Neil again for a few days until the scratches healed so that Neil wouldn’t have the chance to gloat and say ‘told you so’. He washed his face with cold water once his teeth were clean and went into the kitchen where King was already waiting, circling her bowl while meowing up at Andrew. Andrew fed the suffering kitten, poured himself a bowl of cereal – cereal first, then milk; anyone who does it the other way around, commits heresy in Andrew’s opinion – then went into the living room and turned the TV on, burrowing himself under one of the many fluffy blankets he kept on the couch. He took his phone that he had left on the coffee table the previous evening. There was a very important question he had to ask Neil right at that moment. However, when he pulled up their earlier conversation - if those two lines could have been considered as such - he saw that there were several new messages from Neil, mostly sent last night, after Andrew had gone to bed:

**_I think the heating is broken_ **

**_I turn on the thermostat and nothing happens_ **

**_I mean the little sign turns on that shows the heating is on, but the radiators are still cold_ **

**_it’s BROKEN_ **

**_oh shit there’s no hot water either_ **

**_yes, I found that out the hard way_ **

**_but this means theres something wrong with the boiler_ **

**_it provides the heating and the hot water, so if neither is working then there must be something wrong with it_ **

**_its Friday late at night in the middle of January and I have no heating nor hot water_ **

**_I cannot even call a repair man_ **

**_if you never hear from me again, know that I have frozen to death in my own bed and that sir has eaten my body_ **

**_it was nice knowing you andrew_ **

Then a few others from that morning:

**_i survived the night, thanks for your concern_ **

**_we spent the whole night cuddling with sir_ **

**_nice to have a living furnace under your several layers of blankets_ **

**_but the boiler is still not working and I really don’t want to call a repair man_ **

**_do they even come on weekends?_ **

**_I hope your not ignoring my sufferings, Andrew Minyard. It’s almost 11am, you cannot still be sleeping_ **

Andrew looked at the clock on his phone and noted that yes, it was almost noon. That must have been the reason for the wrong kind of sunlight of when he woke up. He snorted, shook his head and typed in a short reply:

_*you’re_

**_fuck you too Andrew._ **

_Would be difficult with us being in different flats, don’t you think?_

**_I bet you’RE feeling very good about yourself now, aren’t you?_ **

Yes, Andrew was feeling very good about himself, thank you very much. Not that he would tell Neil that.

 _Have you sorted your heating out yet?_ He wrote instead.

A few seconds later, his phone screen lit up with an incoming video call from one _Idiot_ which Andrew accepted, and soon Neil’s face appeared on the small screen.

“No, I haven’t. I tried everything the internet said, but nothing works. And my landlord isn’t answering his phone,” he started complaining, not bothering with saying hello.

“Good morning to you, too, Neil. Did you sleep well?” Andrew’s voice was mocking, dripping with fake sweetness.

“Would have slept like the dead, if I hadn’t been afraid of actually ending up dead,” Neil retorted. “So back to the main problem here, my landlord isn’t answering his phone, and there’s no repair shop phone number on the boiler I could call. The fuck do I do now?” Andrew watched as Neil throw himself onto his couch and wrapped a soft-looking blanket around himself until he was completely cocooned.

“Well, first of all, stand up from your couch – “Andrew’s voice was cut off by a loud complaining moan coming from Neil.

“Stand up from your couch,” Andrew repeated a little more forcefully. “Walk to your boiler and turn the camera around.”

Neil complained loudly, but did as he was told. “Show me your magic, master,” he said once he made sure Andrew can see the appliance before him.

Andrew could see that there were several knobs on its front but due to the blurriness of the video call, he couldn’t make out anything that was written around them.

“Well, this one has some wiggly lines next to it, this one a flame, and I have no idea what this is supposed to be,” Neil said when Andrew told him just as much.

“Very helpful, Neil, thank you. I now know exactly how to fix your problem.”

“Really? How?”

“Oh my god, you idiot. That couldn’t have been more clearly sarcasm.” Andrew had serious doubts about his own sanity when he realized he found it cute the way Neil was pouting. And he hated Neil and himself for it. _Cute._ Andrew didn’t find people cute. Or at least he hadn’t up until that moment. “Don’t give me that look. I think you have to suck it up, buttercup, and call your landlord.”

“I already did!” Andrew couldn’t categorize the sound Neil made as anything other than whining. “But he’s not answering his phone, I told you that. And it’s getting really fucking cold in here. This morning, the thermometer said it was 59 degrees. Inside!”

“Aren’t you from Denver? I thought you’d be used to the cold,” Andrew wondered.

“No. Or yes. I did live in Denver for two years. And the winter was absolute hell there. I grew up in Arizona. So no, I am not used to it being 55 degrees inside my flat, Andrew,” Neil replied.

“It was 59 the last time.”

“Yeah, it was 59 in the morning, but that became 55 since then,” Neil complained. “Couldn’t you come over and take a look at it?” he asked then.

Andrew sighed. “Why do you think I would be able to help?”

“I literally know no-one in this whole city I could ask for help. Huh,” Neil stopped, then looked pensive before he spoke up again. “My old teammates would be so proud of me if they heard I willingly asked for help from someone. I wasn’t the best.. at… um… asking people for help back then,” he finished finally.

“You could’ve fooled me. But fine, I’ll be over in half an hour, just give me your address,” Andrew relented. “And I’ll have to take King with me. I don’t trust her not to wreck my apartment by the time I come back if I leave her here alone.”

“King is very welcomed to come. I’m sure Sir will be delighted to have her,” Neil smiled.

“I wouldn’t put a lot of money on that.”

*

While waiting for Andrew to arrive, Neil paced up and down his apartment. He was nervous. He was fucking nervous and he had no idea why. He had been over at Andrew’s place the day before and they spent an honestly phenomenal evening together. Which meant Andrew clearly didn’t consider whatever _this_ was between them just as a road trip fling. Neil had that feeling when they kissed goodbye back at the rental shop, but then chased the thought away, up until Andrew texted him about King possibly missing Sir. A variant of the same excuse Neil had used for seeing each other again. But his heart still raced when he sent the message offering to go bring Sir over, fearing rejection, then it raced for a completely different reason when Andrew had accepted. Neil wasn’t lying when he told Andrew he didn’t know how to act sitting on his sofa. It _was_ weird, being in Andrew’s own personal space and not on neutral grounds in the Audi. Neil couldn’t explain why it was weird though. But he had felt out of place, only inches separating him from Andrew but still surrounded by him. And now, Andrew was coming over to Neil’s flat. Not that it felt like his own yet. He had boxes literally everywhere, the only ones unpacked were the ones that contained his bedding, pajamas and toiletries. And Sir’s stuff. Those had been the first ones to leave the box they were kept in. It literally couldn’t have been any other way. Neil’s train of thought was interrupted by the doorbell.

“Hi,” Neil said when he opened the door. “Sir is chilling in the living room, you can take King to her, and I could show you the boiler? Wait. Are those claw marks on your jaw? King got you bad? I bet it fucking hurt, huh?” Neil asked, totally gloating.

“Fuck off,” Andrew grumbled which meant Neil had been right. “Just show me where the boiler is,” Andrew said as he took of his ankle boots and shrugged of his coat, hanging it up neatly. Neil did just that after they had deposited King into the living room.

Andrew stood in front of the machine for a few seconds, sizing it up. Then he moved closer, reading all the signs, probably trying to work out how it worked. He then turned a handle and pushed a button at the same time for a few seconds, and Neil could hear the boiler turn on, the presumably hot water starting to flow through the system.

“How did you do that?” Neil asked. “I have literally tried everything, but nothing worked.”

“Well, clearly you didn’t try everything, otherwise you would have been able to turn it on,” Andrew replied then turned around without another word and went into the living room. Neil followed, he was curious to see if the cats had killed themselves or destroyed the room yet, anyways. They hadn’t. They were lying on the sofa, curled up next to each other. They looked disgustingly cute. But at least King was calm.

“They look disgustingly cute. But at least King is calm,” Neil said. Andrew snorted and made himself comfortable next to the cats under the blanket Neil had used to try to warm himself up that morning.

“Make yourself at home, I guess,” Neil told Andrew with a small smile on his face before joining him on the sofa. “At least don’t hog the whole blanket, I’m cold too,” he complained and tried to pry it from Andrew’s strong hands in vain.

“I am not going to cuddle with you on the couch under the same blanket,” Andrew said with a blank face.

“Then give me my fucking blanket, because you’re the one who has a problem with that not me, and this is my blanket and I’m cold, so..” Neil answered.

“No, it’s fucking freezing in here, I am not giving you the blanket.”

“Then you have to submit yourself to fucking cuddling, because I am not freezing to death on my own sofa” Neil said before successfully freeing a small part of the blanket from behind Andrew’s back and pulling it round his body, scooching closer to Andrew until their shoulders and knees touched, Andrew murmuring something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like ‘ _I fucking hate you_ ’ but not pulling away. It really was cold in the flat.

“So, do you have any exciting plans for the weekend?” Neil asked Andrew, earning a snort from the blond.

“Small talk, really?” Andrew asked back. “Also, we already talked about that yesterday. Nice to know you were paying attention.”

Neil just shrugged and turned his attention towards Sir who decided the best place to sleep would be between Neil’s torso and his legs that were pulled up to his chest.

“Actually, Kevin texted me this morning before I left,” Neil’s ears perked up at that. “He has a few days off before the All-Star game and he’s gonna come visit before heading to Raleigh.”

Neil could have expected that. The All-Star weekend was when the best players – and a few fan picked ones - from the whole league get together in one of the NHL cities where they have various skills competitions – such as accuracy shooting and speed skating – before they are put into two teams for the All-Star game on Saturday. It’s all fun and gives every player a short break from the pressures of an NHL season. This year it was going to be held in Raleigh, the home city of the Carolina Hurricanes and Neil knew Kevin Day was on the roster. It was logical he would visit his high school buddy. At least Neil guessed that’s what they were.

“I can’t believe you’re willingly talking about Kevin,” Neil said. “I thought you refused to talk about him.”

“You asked me what my plans were for the weekend, and I answered truthfully,” Andrew said, showing no emotion.

“Okay, but now that you brought it up, am I allowed to ask about how you knew him in high school? Hell, you _played_ with him.”

“No.” That was all Andrew said.

“Okay okay. I’m just curious why you didn’t tell me you played hockey, as well, in the four days we spent locked in a car during which we went to a fucking _NHL game._ ”

“Didn’t seem interesting.”

“Well, I find it interesting. Meeting someone else who likes hockey.”

“I don’t like hockey. I never said I did,” Andrew said, sounding a tiny bit like a grumpy kindergartner.

“But you played it. Why then?” Neil asked.

“It was less boring than doing anything else.” Andrew replied.

“Fair enough.”

Neil thought the hockey related conversation had stopped there, but a few moments of silence later Andrew spoke up again.

“Your first practice is on Tuesday, right?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Kevin is sticking around until Wednesday. D’you think those kids of yours would appreciate being visited by an NHL captain?” he asked Neil.

Neil’s eyes went wide, just staring at Andrew. He was pretty sure his mouth was open as well, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Not until Andrew put one finger under his chin and closed it for him.

“Fuck. Are you serious?” Neil asked once he was able to form a coherent thought. “The kids would love it, I’m sure of it. Andrew, that would mean so much to them.”

Andrew shrugged before he opened his mouth again.

“I’m sure that fitness junkie wouldn’t pass on getting on the ice if he gets the chance. I’ll ask him and get back to you,” he said, while stroking King’s fur who had climbed across the backrest from Neil’s to Andrew’s side.

“Andrew,” Neil said and waited until the blonde turned his head towards him. “Can I kiss you?”

“Yes,” came the answer.

Neil moved towards Andrew’s face, but he forwent going for his lips, kissing the thin red marks on his jaw softly instead, before moving further down onto his neck. Andrew shivered right before Neil pulled away and looked Andrew earnestly in the eye. “Thank you,” he said.

“I fucking hate you,” Andrew said.

Neil laughed, and breathed the words ‘ _I know_ ’ into Andrew’s mouth before kissing him properly. And if the room suddenly felt a lot warmer, that was probably due to the now working heating warming the air up.

“Wait,” Andrew pulled away. “I had a very important question I wanted to ask you this morning before that whole shebang with your heating.” Neil tilted his head to show Andrew he was listening. “Milk first or cereal first?”

“Milk first,” Neil answered.

“Oh fucking hell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter may or may not have been inspired by real life events.
> 
> Also, I have a feeling that this fic is going to be heavily character driven with probably minimal plot. Just a fair warning.


	3. “He’s the captain of the Carolina Hurricanes!”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin visits hockey practice

Neil really shouldn’t have accepted Andrew’s offer of asking Kevin to join the practice. When Andrew had texted him on Saturday to tell him Kevin had agreed, all Neil had felt was excitement. But as Tuesday afternoon rolled closer and closer, he started to become nervous about the whole thing. This would be the first time he’d see those kids, which was fucking stressful enough, let alone if he added meeting Kevin Fucking Day to the mix. Kevin Day, who was only a few years older than Neil was and who had gone first in the draft, now was the captain of the Philadelphia Flyers and one of the highest, if not _the_ highest ranked player in the league. And he had agreed to join some peewee hockey practice to help a buddy’s … friend with benefits? Person he sometimes has mutual orgasms with? Maybe it was time for Neil to talk to Andrew about what exactly their relationship to each other was. But Neil really didn’t want to focus on that at that moment. So he let those thoughts be overtaken by the nerves about what the practice that started in 45 minutes would bring.

Neil had arrived at the rink an hour earlier than when practice started at 17:30 to make sure everything was in order and that he’d be there to greet every kid as they arrived. He had asked Kevin Day through Andrew to arrive at five so that he would have a chance talk through with him how they both imagined this 60-minute session would go. Or at least that’s the reason he gave the others. Sure, he really did need time to go through what he had planned with Kevin Day beforehand, but more importantly he wanted to have time for his own silent freaking out about meeting him in his office, without the kids present. Neil spent the next about fifteen minutes in his office organizing his thoughts but also mindlessly staring out the window towards the yet empty car park until he was roused out of his thoughts by a fancy looking black car pulling in with a big roar of engine.

Neil stood up to go outside and greet Kevin Day there – it had to be him driving that car, it looked like something a hotshot hockey player would have – because he knew that was only polite and he really didn’t want to make a bad first impression. However, when he got outside Kevin exited the car from the side of the passenger seat and the person who climbed out from behind the steering wheel was Andrew. Neil had to admit he was as surprised as relieved to see him there. He had asked Andrew if he wanted to come as well and he took the noncommittal shrug he had gotten in response as a no. He had been expecting it really, with how Andrew said he didn’t like hockey, didn’t want to talk about it and sure as fuck didn’t want to talk about Kevin Day playing hockey. But here he was, getting out of the car in front of the practice rink. Neil wondered what Kevin had bribed him with to get him here. Or maybe Andrew was just being a good friend, giving Kevin a lift as he probably didn’t have his own car in Columbia.

“Hello, I’m Neil Josten,” Neil reached out for a handshake once Kevin Day got close enough. “I’m very honored you agreed to join our practice today. I’m sure the kids will be delighted.”

“My pleasure, really,” the other said as he shook hands with Neil, and Andrew snorted.

“Now that you both had the chance to act like the cultured adults you aren’t, I’m going inside. It’s freezing,” he said and didn’t wait for a reaction as he headed towards the door. Neil exchanged a half-embarrassed look with Day, then shrugged, starting after Andrew. It was easier taking Kevin off of the star athlete pedestal Neil had out him on when Andrew treated him like any other person. Well, obviously not like any other person. Andrew would not talk to other people unless necessary and he would probably be rude about it in the eyes of the others.

Neil looked around the thankfully still empty car park and since there weren’t any kids walking towards the rink from the bus stop either, he was glad he would have a few minutes to discuss his plans with the other two. Or more like with the other one. Singular. He couldn’t imagine Andrew being interested in what Neil’s plans were, let alone getting on the ice. He probably stayed because he was Kevin’s ride home and he didn’t have time to go home and come back comfortably.

In Neil’s office, they went through the play-by-play of the practice session. Neil had thought it would be best if he could introduce himself to the children and get to know them a little bit, before springing an NHL superstar on them, and Kevin agreed. Neil had planned this session as more of an introductory one, the kids familiarising themselves with the ice, the equipment and the padding – even if they weren’t complete beginners – before moving onto some mild skating practice and drills. The kids Neil would be coaching were between 10 and 12 years old, which meant he didn’t have to worry about their motor skills and hand-eye coordination like he would with a younger group, say 6-8-year-olds, but they would still need practicing skating itself. It’s generally something pre-teen hockey players need and adding the unstable family background of these kids, yeah, he was pretty sure, they didn’t have regular access to the ice.

Neil wanted to involve Kevin more in the drills part, than the skating part. NHL practices are not about general skating and it had been ages since Kevin had been taught how to skate, it had probably become instinctual to him, which would mean he wouldn’t be able to pass his knowledge down to the children. Just as he told Kevin in as much, he heard the locker room door swing open from his office and the voice of kids chatting excitedly filtered through the door. After telling Kevin and Andrew to stay in the office, Neil went and greeted his first hockey players.

“Good afternoon, boys!” he said, stepping into the locker room. “I’m Neil Josten, I will be your hockey coach. I’m very happy to have you here,” he said, smiling.

“Good afternoon, Mr Josten,” the boys said in a chorus.

“Oh, no. Call me Neil, no need for Mr Josten.”

Neil spent the next 15 minutes greeting and getting to know the children he would be coaching as they arrived one by one, duos and trios. He asked them their names, of course, how long they had been playing hockey, if they followed the NHL and if so, who their favourite team was. Out of the 10 boys and 6 girls - hockey was not a coeducated sport on a higher level, but in the younger age groups, it wasn’t unusual to have mixed teams such as this one – three boys and five girls said that they do follow the NHL, two of the latter announcing that the Hurricanes were the best team ever, and everyone else was just simply wrong. Then they started beaming at each other upon discovering this alliance. Sarah, the twelve-year-old, with her bouncy blond curls tied up into a frizzy ponytail and who was already taller than Neil was, grinning at the one year younger Ellie, who in all honesty was tiny, even compared to Neil. Her dark kinky hair was tied into two small buns at the nape of her neck. Neil smiled at them. There was something pure about kids forming new friendships. Just genuine sympathy towards the other, no calculating, no ulterior motives, just two girls bonding over their favourite hockey team. Oh, and of course. He couldn’t wait to see the looks on their faces when he brought Kevin out. Accepting Andrew’s offer had been an amazing idea after all.

Practice went great. The kids adored finally being on the ice, chasing each other and laughing through warm up, but becoming serious once it was time for the guided skating practice. About half an hour in, Neil asked the children to gather around him, then announced that they had a guest tonight who had agreed to show them a few tricks. When Neil returned with Kevin trailing behind him, Sarah and Ellie let out a pair of tandem shrieks, before going very, very quiet – meeting an athlete you’re huge fan of can do that to you – and the other NHL watchers seemed to be vibrating with excited energy as well. The other eight children didn’t know who Kevin was, or why this whole thing was supposed to be exciting but they picked up on the excitement around them.

“He’s the captain of the Carolina Hurricanes!” Sarah whispered to a baby-faced boy, named Jason.

Kevin introduced himself, looking sheepish, nothing like the confident captain of an NHL team Neil knew him. It was amusing watching this hot shot sports star, acting almost shy in front of a bunch of kids. When they moved onto the drills, Neil and Kevin coaching the kids together, Kevin seemed warm up, being on home ice after all – even if only figuratively not literally. The last 5 minutes of practice was and would always be dedicated to free skating and this time around the kids collectively decided to play tag, Kevin and Neil included, which quickly turned into all the kids ganging up on Kevin, chasing him around the rink, everyone, even Kevin, laughing carelessly. Neil was standing near the plexiglass watching the commotion near the away goal. Kevin had been backed into the boards, the children surrounding him with no way out.

“Okay, okay, you caught me,” he said, weirdly out of breath considering he usually played NHL games. A five-minute game of tag with a little more than a dozen preteens shouldn’t have made him breathless. Midseason tiredness can do that to you, Neil guessed. He looked from watching Kevin once again skating away from his chasers and spotted a lone figure sitting far away from the group of accompanying guardians. As if Andrew had felt Neil’s gaze, he turned his head, locking eyes with him. Neil smiled and waved, Andrew scowled then looked away. Neil shook his head and blew his whistle, signaling the end of practice. The children begrudgingly stopped chasing Kevin around and filed off the ice.

“This was the best practice ever!” Neil heard one of them saying excitedly to another. He followed them and made sure they were all safely picked up by their guardians before heading back towards the rink, looking for Andrew and Kevin. He found Andrew still sitting in the stands, bundled up in a warm fleece blanket, looking bored as he watched Kevin shooting pucks at the empty goal. Neil climbed up the stairs and sat down next to Andrew, leaving one seat between them.

“Kevin’s lucky to have you as a friend, you driving his ass everywhere,” he said. Andrew looked at him without turning his head and raised one of his eyebrows. “He should pay you for the chauffeuring service and some extra for occupational hazard.”

Andrew raised his eyebrow again, still looking at Neil from the corner of his eyes.

“I mean with how you’re freezing to death sitting here, waiting for him,” Neil grinned.

Andrew rolled his eyes – they were especially expressive that night – and looked back at Kevin who was picking up the discarded pucks from around the goal.

“He should,” Andrew agreed a few seconds later.

On the ice, with all the pucks collected and put into a neat pile, Kevin skated back into position to start shooting them into the goal once again. He looked up at the stands before reaching the 25-yard line and spotted Neil sitting with Andrew. He skated to the boards and waved at him, signaling to him to come closer.

“Go. His Royal Highness has summoned you,” Andrew said, and Neil went.

“Can I help you with something?” he asked Kevin when he reached him.

“Yeah, do you wanna play a one-on-one?” Kevin asked.

“I mean I would love to., but it would be seriously one sided,” Neil replied, suddenly a little self-conscious. “I haven’t played competitively for years. Plus, you know what they say, those who can’t do teach,” he finished a little self-deprecatingly.

“Come on, this won’t be competitive either,” Kevin insisted. “Until one of us reaches ten goals. With no checking, of course, as none of us is wearing any padding.”

It wasn’t every day that Neil had the opportunity to play with an NHL star, so that was all the convincing he needed. He went back to Andrew to tell him they’re going to stay a little longer, maybe he should buy himself a hot chocolate while he waited. Andrew turned his whole head towards him this time, eyebrows once again raised.

“I think you’re overdoing the whole eyebrow thing,” Neil told him with a sly grin. Andrew raised his eyebrows even higher. To mock or because it was a subconscious reaction? Neil couldn’t tell.

“You came back to tell me I’m ‘overdoing the eyebrow thing’?” he asked Neil, now with a completely neutral face.

“No, I came back to tell you that we’re gonna play a one-on-one with Kevin, so you are going to have to wait for him a little while longer.”

“I don’t have to do anything,” Andrew said.

“You’re right,” Neil replied. “But I heard they sell awesome hot chocolate in the buffet, you should try it.” With this, Neil finally earned himself a scowl.

“I hate you so much,” Andrew said, doing his best to convey said emotion with his eyes.

“Yeah yeah, I know, I know,” Neil replied, smiling happily. “You can leave if you want to though. I also have a car, I can take Kevin back to your place after we’re done.” Neil hadn’t discussed that with Kevin beforehand, of course, but he knew Kevin would prefer driving back with Neil to taking the public transport in the event of Andrew leaving him behind.

Andrew didn’t say anything, only continued staring at Neil, and after a few seconds, Neil turned around and headed back to Kevin having accomplished what he wanted to do.

“He didn’t seem too happy about having to wait even longer, so I told him he can leave if he wants to, I could drive you back to his place when we’re done,” he told Kevin once he reached him.

“Oh yeah, thanks,” Kevin said, looking at Andrew’s retreating form. “Let’s play.”

And they played. Neil had been right. He was nowhere near Kevin’s level, but it was bloody fun playing with him. He hadn’t lied, it had been a long time ago since he properly played hockey, and it was refreshing to finally do it again. Even if Kevin was leading 6-1 after fifteen minutes. Neil was trying to catch his breath when he let his eyes wander and spotted Andrew back on the stands, now with a cup of hot chocolate in his hands.

“Looks like you don’t have to hitch a ride with me after all,” Neil told Kevin with a slight grin, nodding his head towards Andrew. Kevin followed Neil’s line of sight, waved at Andrew, then turned back to Neil.

“Let’s finish this, before he gets more bored than he already is,” Kevin told him.

Neil didn’t know if they managed to finish their game before Andrew got bored, but they sure finished rather quickly. 10 minutes later they were heading off the ice, with the final score being 10-2. To Kevin’s favour of course. But Neil was immensely proud of the two goals he had managed to score against him.

When Andrew saw that they were finishing up, he stood up and walked towards the plexiglass greeting them as they stepped of the ice.

“Great, there’s two of you now,” he said as he handed Kevin a piece of cloth to clean his skates before switching it to his skate guards, without a bat of an eye, like it was routine for them. It probably was, Neil thought.

Kevin thanked him and headed towards the locker room, while Neil lingered behind.

“Was the hot chocolate as good as they told me it would be?” he asked Andrew. Andrew shrugged.

“Was it good enough to make waiting for Kevin worth it?” Neil asked instead.

“I guess,” Andrew answered. “It was hot enough to warm me up a little bit at least.”

Neil laughed. “You know what else could warm you up?” Neil asked Andrew as he stepped closer to Andrew, right into his space. With his skates still on, he was tall enough that Andrew had to properly tilt his head back if he wanted to continue looking at Neil’s face, exposing his Adam’s apple that bobbed as he swallowed.

“What?” Andrew asked.

“If you stood in the goal, blocking the shots,” Neil grinned.

Andrew groaned. “Never gonna happen, junkie.”

“Ah well, it was worth a shot,” Neil said and took a step back. Or at least tried to, but couldn’t thanks to Andrew’s arms twisting around his waist and behind his back. It was a truly affectionate position, one that Neil hadn’t expected coming form Andrew, but he couldn’t say that he minded it, especially not when Andrew asked ‘yes or no’ and kissed him upon his ‘yes’. It was a short kiss, Neil’s ankles were already hurting standing in his skates, and it wasn’t the time or place for a make out session.

“Thank you for making this evening happen,” Neil told Andrew as they broke apart, sealing it with one more kiss. Then headed to the locker room himself, to take of his skates then to pick up his stuff from his office. He said goodbye to Andrew and Kevin in the parking lot, before they got into the shiny black car and roared away. Neil climbed behind the steering wheel of his Honda Civic still with a smile on his lips and headed home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! 
> 
> I'm sorry for the sporadic updates. I'm not a fast writer and had a disgusting amount of uni work considering it was autumn break last week, which should have meant having the chance to take a break from uni... But I am not abandoning this fic, and not planning to in the future, but I cannot promise regular updates so bear with me.
> 
> Also, I'm studying to become a teacher, so I can make teacher jokes, but please don't ever say that to a teacher friend of yours, because they will want to throttle you, rightly so.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter, please leave kudos and comments if you did ♥


	4. "Whoever this ‘idiot’ is, I already like them"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minyard-Hemmick bonding night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's past 1am and this is unbeta-ed. 
> 
> I hope you like it!

Andrew was grouchy. He was grouchy and he felt completely justified in his grouchiness. King had woken him up at 7am by jumping on him and causing him to have a near heart attack. She’d been with Andrew for a week and each morning, the wake-up call had been something vaguely traumatizing. Andrew wondered how long it would take him to no longer be startled by King jumping on the bed. He hoped it wouldn’t take long, because he really had had enough of those adrenalin-filled mornings. And Bee said having a cat would be beneficial for his mental state.. 

He had tried locking King out of his room for the night one time. It seemed the easiest solution, really. Right until she started wailing in front of his door to be let in at 1 am, so loud that Andrew had been sure all his neighbors were able to hear it and that he should expect some passive-aggressive letters of complaint. So Andrew had made the wise decision – at least it had seemed wise to his sleep-clouded brain in the middle of the night – to let King into his bedroom and onto his bed where she curled up behind Andrew’s knees as he was lying on his side.

Andrew seriously regretted that decision of his as he walked into his kitchen, bleary-eyed, to feed the devil and, more importantly and more urgently, to get himself a cup of coffee. No human being should be required to be awake this early on a Saturday morning. He had been up until after 2 am the night before revising the documents for the court hearing on Monday for one of his clients. And five hours of sleep wasn’t enough to get him through the day. Actually, no amount of sleep would have been enough to get him through the day due to the fact that the All-Star Game, where Kevin would be playing, was that day and Aaron and Nicky would be coming over to watch it. No spouses, just them three. “Bonding” they called it. Or rather Nicky did, Aaron and Andrew went along with it reluctantly, because they might not admit it out loud, but Nicky was important to both of them and this “bonding night” was important to Nicky, so they dealt with it. Ever since Kevin was drafted, he was part of the All-Star Weekend, so the cousins gathered at Andrew’s to watch the game, because he had a “bachelor pad” or so Nicky said, where there wouldn’t be spouses or kids. Nicky usually said a lot of things. Andrew usually tuned him out.

So Andrew was running on 5 hours of sleep and a cup of coffee on a day that would deplete his batteries even if they had been fully charged beforehand. Andrew could barely contain his joy. Nicky had announced himself for around 2pm, so Andrew would have time to go back to sleep, but unfortunately once he was up, he was up for the day.

So he drank his coffee and went into the living room where King was already playing with one of her toys. Andrew sat down on the couch and thought about the day ahead of him. Aaron would most likely bring pigs in a blanket as tradition and Nicky would supply the booze. That left Andrew with the task of baking something sweet.

Ever since the others had found out Andrew liked baking and whatever he baked usually turned out well, at every gathering his responsibility had been the dessert which he didn’t really mind. He _did_ like baking after all. But this last week had been hectic and he didn’t have time to clean his apartment or go grocery shopping, so he would have to do that before the others arrived. He groaned, closed his eyes let his head rest on the back of his couch. It was only a little past 7am, he could allow himself to chill a little before starting the day.

He enjoyed the morning quiet for a little – King for once being content to chew on one of her toys – before he turned on the TV and switched to the morning cartoons. They were exactly what his tired brain needed: something fun, and easily understandable that would wake him up. He stayed on the couch watching cartoons then reading for almost two hours before he got up to clean the apartment and go grocery shopping, hating the Saturday morning shoppers with all his being.

He got back around noon and after a quick lunch, he started baking. The controlled measurements, the satisfying way the ingredients mixed together forming dough always calmed him down, and he felt himself slowly relaxing after the frenzy that the supermarket was. He had just put the cookies in the oven when he heard the intercom ringing and with a sigh he went and let Aaron and Nicky up, bracing himself for the pure exuberance that Nicky Hemmick-Klose always had been and never managed to grow out, not even over 30.

“And how’s my other favorite cousin?” Nicky asked in lieu of saying hello when Andrew opened the front door. “Any exciting happening since I last saw you?” he continued as Andrew stepped aside to let them in and they moved to take off their shoes and coats, handing Andrew their contributions to the evening.

“Nicky, we saw each other not a month ago and talked almost every week,” Andrew sighed. He sighed a lot when it came to Nicky. But while on the outside, Andrew seemed exasperated, it was a fond sigh.

“We did, and you failed to mention that blinking furball on your couch,” Nicky chided as he went slowly to King as if trying not to scare her off. “Hello, little one, what’s your name?” He asked her.

“The cat cannot speak, Nicky,” Aaron said as he flopped down on the couch, causing King to run for her life.

“Why did you have to do that?” Nicky cried and Aaron only just shrugged.

“I wanted to sit down,” he said. “It’s not my fault that cat is skittish. But I am with Nicky on this one, Andrew. Since when do you have a cat?”

“Since about a week ago.”

“And why?”

“Why not?” Andrew kept Aaron’s blank stare that he had earned with his non-answer, his face completely passive.

“Oh my God, could you guys grow up?” Nicky groaned after about a minute that passed with neither twin moving. “You’re 28, why are you behaving like petty teenagers?”

“You see, Nicholas, our relationship is in its teenage years, given how I didn’t know you existed for the first half of my life,” Andrew answered, not breaking eye-contact with Aaron, face still blank. “ _Our_ teenage years were spent figuring shit out, not with ‘petty’ teenager things.”

“I would accept that argument, if I hadn’t _been there_ when you were teenagers, and hadn’t seen you two doing ‘petty teenager things’,” Nicky countered, and Andrew had to admit, he had a point. But he still wouldn’t let his twin win their stare-off. And it seemed neither would Aaron.

“I’m running on five hours of sleep and two cups of coffee, and I am a _lawyer,_ ” Andrew said, voice completely flat, face barely moving apart from his lips. “You cannot win, it would be better if you gave up now.” Aaron’s response was a blank stare. So really, nothing changed.

“And they call _me_ immature. One is a doctor, the other is a lawyer..” Nicky mumbled. “I’m going to go find the kitten that we still _don’t know anything about_. Shout when you’re done,” he said as he left in the direction of the kitchen.

“While you’re in the kitchen, could you check on the cookies in the oven?” Andrew yelled, face still unmoving, staring into Aaron’s eyes.

“If I wanted to be mean, I would say ‘no, come and do it yourself, but I do want to eat not-burned cookies tonight, so sure,” came the answer, like Andrew knew it would.

Their stare-off went on for about another minute – Aaron was getting too good – and Andrew could hear Nicky cooing to King, before Andrew’s phone broke the silence. He had left it on the kitchen counter, so Nicky would be able to see who was calling and would tell Andrew if it was important. Andrew wasn’t too bothered about it. For about 3 seconds.

“Who is ‘Idiot’ and why are they video calling you, Andrew?” Nicky shouted.

“No one important,” Andrew shouted back in haste, turning his head towards Nicky as he was standing in the kitchen door with Andrew’s still ringing phone in his hands. “Just ignore it.” Then he realized what he had done. “Oh dammit.” He turned back towards Aaron, who already had a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Hah. Whoever this ‘idiot’ is, I already like them,” he grinned.

“He says they’re no-one important, but did you see his reaction? I think we should accept the call and see who it actually is,” Nicky fake whispered conspirationally to Aaron.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Andrew warned, and started towards Nicky, but Nicky just simply lifted the phone above his head and effectively out of Andrew’s reach. Andrew really regretted not having put on his armbands that morning. Aaron watched the scene from the couch with concealed amusement on his face. “Nicholas, give me back my phone,” Andrew said.

Nicky just grinned. “Nope,” he said and hit ‘Accept’, Neil’s voice immediately pouring from the speakers.

“ _Finally, you asshole, you’ve been ignoring me all da–-oh, you’re not Andrew,_ ” he quickly finished when presumably the video itself finally connected.

“No, I am not. My name is Nicholas Hemmick-Klose, at your service. And how my I call you?”

Before Neil could answer, Andrew snarled, “Give me back my phone, Nicky, I’m not asking you one more time.”

“Don’t be rude, Andrew. I’m just talking to this fine young ma– _-OW,_ did you just _kick_ me? What are you, five?” Nicky groaned. Andrew triumphantly snatched his phone out from Nicky’s hands as Nicky was standing on one leg, rubbing his shin where Andrew _did_ indeed kick him.

“What do you want?” He asked a laughing Neil.

“ _Maybe I just wanted to bask in your sunny disposition,_ ” Neil answered. “ _Did you really kick your cousin?_ ” he cackled.

“How do you– _-_ oh, Andrew, you talked about me? I’m flattered,” Nicky said finally dropping his hurt leg, and standing next to Andrew so that he could see the screen as well. “But I still don’t know who you are.”

“ _I’m Neil. Josten. Nice to meet you._ ”

“And tell me _Neil Josten_ , how do you know my baby cousin?” Andrew had to remind himself that he couldn't kill Nicky, they had enough murders in their family as is.

“ _Oh. We got stuck together at Denver airport in a snowstorm then decided to rent a car and roadtrip to Columbia when all the flights got cancelled,_ ” Neil answered.

“Oh, did you, now? You know, Andrew, when I asked if anything exciting has happened to you, this could have been an answer,” Nicky chided. At this, Aaron, too interested in what was happening in the kitchen door, got up from the couch and walked to stand on the other side of Andrew.

“ _Hi, you must be Aaron. Unless you have a third twin Andrew failed to mention._ ”

“Yes, I’m Aaron. And I don’t know of a third twin, but I didn’t know of Andrew either, until we were 13, so I’m not ruling out anything. However, identical triplets are 20 to 30 in a million occurrence, so it would be very unlikely that we have a long-lost third brother. But the chance is always there, I guess,” Aaron said, and he sounded like he was actually contemplating.

“Of course we don’t have a third brother, you idiot. Don’t you think the Hemmicks would have tracked him down by now? Now go, be somewhere else, so that I can talk to Neil without you pests hanging around,” Andrew said as he stepped into the kitchen and closed the door behind him. He propped his phone on the counter and went about taking the cookies out of the oven.

“ _Oh my God, Andrew, are you baking?_ ” Neil asked incredulously.

“Yes, I am. What is it that you called me for?”

“ _Oh! I was wondering, if you wanted to watch the game tonight. I even left a text message, but I can see you have company, so it’s all moot now_.”

Andrew checked his phone and indeed there was a text from Neil saying **_Hey, I know you don’t like hockey, but you do like Kevin at least a little bit, don’t even dare denying it, so would you like to watch the game tonight with me?_** Sent at freaking 6:34 that morning. Maybe Andrew should have checked his phone more often.

“What were you doing up at 6:34am on a Saturday?” Andrew asked Neil.

“ _Oh, I went for my morning run._ ”

“Of course you did,” Andrew mumbled.

“ _Of course I did,_ ” Neil repeated. “ _But I won’t keep you any longer, go entertain your family. We can talk later. If you want to,_ ” he added.

“You’ll want to talk about the game after it, won’t you?”

“ _Yes, that is a possibility. But we don’t have to._ ”

Andrew sighed. “I’ll call you once these idiots have left.” And god, the way Neil smiled at that did something to Andrew’s insides he wasn’t yet ready to deal with.

“ _Okay, have fun until then. Bye!_ ”

“Bye!” Andrew said and disconnected the call. He put the cookies from the baking tray onto a plate and went into the living room. Nicky was lying on the couch, with King purring in his lap and a controller in his hands. Aaron sat in the armchair with the other controller, trying to kill Nicky’s character on the TV screen. They looked up when they heard Andrew coming and paused the game.

“So who is Neil exactly?” Nicky asked grinningly.

“Like he told you. A person I know.”

“Sure. That’s why you two video chat, and that’s why you have told him about us.”

“There’s not much you can do when you’re stuck in the same car for four days but talk.”

“Oh, Andrew. Did you make a friend? Or even something more?” Nicky grinned. Instead of answering, Andrew picked up King and sat down on the other side of the couch, pulling the kitten to his chest.

“You know that not answering is an answer in itself, right?” Nicky asked. At Andrew’s silence, he sighed and picked up a topic he had had to drop. “At least tell me about the kitten. Where is it from? Why? And what’s its name?”

“She’s from Denver, because Bee thought it would be a good idea and because a family I was representing had a litter and they offered me one, and her name is King Fluffkins. She had already been named by the child of the family and I didn’t want to change it.”

“Oh wow, okay. That name is a mouthful.”

“I usually call her King. It’s easier that way,” Andrew supplied as he was scratching the kitten behind her ears and under her chin.

“She seems to like you,” Aaron spoke up.

“We’re getting used to each other, I think. But let’s talk about something else than my life now.”

So they did. They talked about anything and everything. Or more like Nicky did, the twins mostly listening to their cousin. They drank, they ate, they watched the semi-finals before it was 8pm and the game was starting. Given how in the All-Star Game the best players of the league were put together into three teams, the total scores were always ridiculously high, this year not exempting either. Kevin’s team won 10-9 and Nicky cheered loudly and drunkenly. Aaron let out a ‘whoop’ and even Andrew smiled to himself, happy for his friend. It wasn’t long after that that Erik showed up to take home his husband and to deposit Aaron with his wife.

After checking the door was locked, Andrew got ready for bed and once he was in bed with his back propped up by a pillow and King curled up at his leg, he called Neil. They did talk about the game, but they also talked about other things, about their days. Because it was late and because Andrew hadn’t slept a lot the night before, they made their conversation quick and once again, Andrew went to bed with a small smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I had thoughts while I was writing this chapter that I wanted to put into the end notes, but for my life, I can't remember them.  
> I might do when I proof read it, and if I do, I'm going to write them here.
> 
> EDIT:  
> I rembered them! So if you noticed any change in the characterisation, it's because I have been devouring the Tales of Verania books by TJ Klune, and whenever I immerse myself in a story like this, I always soak up the personality of the characters, that's visible in my own behaviour and in my writing. So while I didn't use overexcessive, inappropriate sexual humour, the characters might have become more mouthy. I'm not sure. It should go back to normal, once I have that book series out of my system. Unless you prefer the characters like this. But I'm still not sure if the change is noticable or not.
> 
> Also, in this version Aaron has no reason to hate Neil, he already has a relatively good relationship with his brother and Neil didn't bring the mafia down on them. 
> 
> Anyways, I do apologise for the unintentional hiatus, I am hopefully back now.
> 
> And as always, comments give me motivation to write!
> 
> Stay safe and happy holidays, if you're celebrating any. If not, then have a beautiful end of the year!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Kudos and comments are very much appreciated and they make me write faster


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